It's been a week since the coffee shop incident. There hasn't been a right moment to tell Brittany how I feel about her public displays of affection. We're starting to get swamped with assignments and reports. There's also the looming reminder that midterms are fast approaching. Since Brittany is an engineer-to-be, her midterms have a designated week where they're scheduled. The week before her midterms she has no classes- a designated reading week. I took this opportunity to tell her that we should take some time away from each other's constant presence to study for our midterms. She agreed without any need for convincing, so I took that as a good sign. Maybe that's all we needed, some time away from each other? Although this could easily backfire when our midterms ended and she'd be all over me again to compensate for her time away.
I'll worry about that after my midterms, for now, I have a major lab experiment to conduct and write a lengthy report on with my lab partner. The lab instructor lets us into the room and announces the usual safety protocol as we all make our way to our assigned cabinets. I'm surprised to find my workspace unoccupied, my lab partner missing. She's usually there before I am, walking briskly in front of everyone else to make use of all the possible time available. When I commented on her eagerness once, she told me instantly, as if by reflex, "For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned." I asked her where she heard that line, but she had resumed washing our glassware for our experiment.
She was always eerily prepared so it's odd that she's not here already. I crouch to the ground to unlock our cabinet. When I stand, the lab instructor is standing next to me with a young man with blonde hair next to her.
"Santana, this is Sam Evans. He's going to be your lab partner from now on." He offers me an awkward smile and extends his hand to me. His palm is rough when I shake it, but his grip is firm and reassuring.
"What happened to Gabrielle?" I ask, placing my hands into my lab coat pockets.
"She switched out. Luckily for you, Sam showed up just in time. He's enrolled in this course but because of some conflicts he wasn't around for the first couple of weeks," she explains. She pats him on the back and leaves us to resume patrolling the students.
Sam sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "I know what you're thinking: it's irresponsible to miss so much of school and just drop in during the middle of the term."
My eyes dart up to meet his, his expression sad and shameful. I suppose my silence only proves his theory. "I'm sure you have a good reason for not going to school that costs thousands of dollars for only 4 months," I tell him.
He shrugs on his lab coat and flips through his lab manual, not actually reading any of the words on the pages. "I was working," he finally says. I pause in the middle of cleaning a beaker to listen to his explanation. "My family has a bit of a money problem so I had to pay my tuition on my own. Even with the entrance scholarship the tuition is steep." I set down the beaker on the bench, blushing at my own ignorance. I would be one to make a snap judgment.
He explains that when he didn't pay his fees on time they didn't grant him access to his schedule. "Kind of hard to go to class if I don't know where and when they are," he chuckles. I apologize to him, but he tells me not to worry about it. He looks at me through his sweeping bangs and I hope that my apology sounded as sincere as his eyes look.
Sam is tapping absent mindedly on the edge of his stool while we both watch the burette drip basic solution into the flask, waiting for that persisting pink that signals the end of the reaction. He takes in a big breath and I decide the awkward silence has lasted long enough.
"So, what residence do you live in?"
"Oh, I'm from here. I live with my parents off-campus," he answers, stopping the burette and swirling the flask around. The pink cloud vanishes back into the solution on the second swirl, returning to its colourless appearance. "Which works out anyways, I hear residence is like four thousand each term."
I laugh awkwardly, reopening the burette to let the solution continue dripping slowly into the flask. His phone buzzes from inside his coat pocket and he glances around before fishing it out. I peer over his head and around the room to make sure none of the TAs are watching. Cell phones aren't allowed in the lab.
He smiles at the screen and quickly types out a text. When he's done he pockets his phone and jumps to his feet, rushing to close the burette. At some point, when we weren't looking, the experiment had finished. The solution now a deep shade of pink, instead of the slight pink tinge we were aiming for. He chuckles and turns off the magnetic stirrer, picking the flask up to swirl its contents.
"Guess we missed the endpoint by a lot," he says redundantly. I put my hand to my forehead and shake my head at our carelessness.
"Yeah, I guess we did. Good thing we have 2 more trials to not mess up." I stress the last few words and he sets the flask down, placing his hands on his hips, eyeing the solution.
"It looks like the Pink Lady," he says and looks at me with a big smile, expectantly. I narrow my eyes at him and when I don't reply he drops me more hints.
"From Wolverine and Doop Issue #1?" he adds. I stare blankly at him.
"Marvel comics? X-men? The guy with the adamantine claws coming out his knuckles?"
My lips form a silent "Oh" when I finally understand, "Sorry, I only read the new Batwoman comics."
"Psh, DC Comics," he scoffs.
"You must love comic books," I tell him, amusedly.
"Yeah, I do. Marvel comics," he stresses. I roll my eyes and help him set up the next trial.
As we lock up our cabinets he asks for my email and phone number, in case he has any questions while writing the report. We exchange contact info and pack our belongings in silence. I can feel him watching me from behind as I take off my lab coat and retie my hair into a neater ponytail. I pause to listen for any movements from Sam, but he just sits there in silence, watching me. I turn to him, swinging my backpack over one shoulder before saying bye.
"Wait!" he finally yells as I'm halfway out the door. I turn towards him to see him rushing to me at the doorway, his books and lab coat sticking out of his hurriedly packed messenger bag. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to a Halloween party my friend is throwing?"
My heart races to a maddening pace. Is Sam asking me out to a party? I stammer out an "O-oh, I don't know…" and turn to make a quick exit out of the building. Sam is quick to follow me. I can hear his bag bouncing off his hip as he jogs to keep up with my pace.
"C'mon it'll be fun! It's off campus and no supervision, so you don't have to worry about being caught with any booze," he explains. I weave in and out of the crowd of students, trying to lose him so I don't have to reject him or worse, tell him more than a lab partner needs to know. Sam persists, swerving around and bumping into people in an attempt to stay by my side.
"You can dress up as Batwoman! I'll forgive you for reading DC comics!" he shouts over the bustling students. I finally stop, his geeky charm striking one of my heart strings. I turn to look up at him, the sun shining in his face as he squints down at me.
I give him a smirk,"You'd do that, even though you swore an oath to your Marvel comics?"
He laughs and nods, "Anything for a fellow superhero friend."
We share a smile. "I think we're going to be good friends, Sammy Evans." He looks down sheepishly and tugs at the strap of his bag, twisting it in his big hands.
Halloween would be about a week after all of my midterms so it would be a good opportunity to relax and forget about school for a night. Suddenly I was reminded of Brittany. She'd love to go to a costume party after a long and hard week of studying. Sam wouldn't mind, he's made it clear that he sees us as friends.
"Can I bring a friend to the party?" I ask.
Sam looks surprised as he stumbles to answer. "Y-yeah, sure I don't see why not."
I worry my lip between my teeth. Maybe he was hoping I'd come alone and he really was flirting with me today. He looks up at the treetops, high above the science buildings. He thinks for a moment before finally giving me a confident nod.
"Yeah, you can bring a friend," he says. "Just make sure she's not cuter than you," he adds in a lower voice and gives my shoulder a squeeze before leaving me in the middle of the pathway with my thoughts.
I walk back to my dorm, contemplating whether or not I should tell Brittany about Sam. It's not like we're dating, but I have a feeling Brittany would want to know. I decide against it, opting to see how this friendship with Sam goes.